New insight into light propagation and light–matter interactions with applications to experimental observations

Abstract

The paper provides a new understanding of light propagation and light–matter interactions by examining the physical implications of group velocity, electromagnetic (EM) power flow, Poynting theorem, energy conservation law, and Fermat's principle. A criterion is set up to identify the justification of the group velocity definition, and a modified definition is proposed to remove the flaws that the classical definition has. It is reasonably argued that energy conservation law and Fermat's principle are physical postulates independent of Maxwell equations. A “superluminal power flow” is constructed to show that Poynting theorem cannot uniquely define the EM power flow if the energy conservation law or Fermat's principle is not taken into account. As an application, associated basic concepts in textbooks and experimental observations reported in recent research works are also reviewed, including: why the traditional formulation of Fermat's principle has a limited application; how the Fermat's principle is formulated for a plane wave; why the Fermat's principle is consistent with Maxwell EM theory; what the significant difference is between Poynting theorem and energy conservation law; why Poynting vector as EM power flow may break energy conservation law and Fermat's principle in an anisotropic medium; why the physical explanations for “spatially structured” photons in Giovannini-coworkers experiments are not consistent with the principle of relativity; why the traditionally-argued invariance of information velocity contradicts Maxwell equations; and why the superluminal light pulse propagation claimed in Wang-Kuzmich-Dogariu experiments voilates Einstein causality.